WAIKOLOA, HAWAII » Things got easier for the regional format as time went by.

Four tournaments moved a day closer to adopting the two-week format on the final day of the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association annual meeting at the Hilton Waikoloa on Sunday.

All that is left is for the HHSAA executive board to approve it on Monday morning. Since the proposal was initiated by that group, that isn’t much of a hurdle at all.

"None of these decisions are final," HHSAA executive director Chris Chun said. "I think overall the regional thing has been a good experience and we will see what works and what doesn’t work."

The regional format drew the most discussion over the weekend, and by Sunday the athletic directors were all talked out. It was the only proposal not read to the crowd before the vote. Everyone in attendance was well aware of it, and the call for discussion met silence.

When it was time to raise the paddles, it looked very much like a mandate, passing 64-27 with four voters abstaining. The measure had its problems getting out of committee, passing by one vote on the first day and eking by on the second before the entire group got ahold of it.

The format will cause soccer and volleyball tournaments for both genders to be played over two weeks, with a seeded team from a neighbor island hosting one regional and the other to be held on Oahu before the final four is played on Oahu.

Girls basketball and boys volleyball followed the same format this year, but the former will go back to the old way. A proposal to put Maui on the state tournament rotation for soccer was tabled until the result of the double regional was known, and was withdrawn after the big issue passed.

The only measures to fail were a cross country proposal that attempted to do away with Division II and a procedural issue that wanted to reduce the number of people eligible to vote at HIADA.

Other proposals to pass into Monday’s HHSAA meeting were:

» Air riflery: Increase the number of participants to 64 for each gender.

» Bowling: A slight change in the state tournament schedule and an expansion of state tournament qualifiers to 100.

» Cheerleading: Establish clarification of range vs. target before the season.

» Cross country: Expand the field at the state tournament and move the start time up a half hour.

» Swimming: Set standards for state tournament sites and award medals to the sixth-place finisher even though they don’t score points for their teams.

» Wrestling: Allow one coach to be with an athlete in the staging areas and put seeding criteria back in the HHSAA packet. Also changes girls weight classes to 97, 102, 107, 112, 117, 122, 127, 132, 138, 145, 155, 168, 184 and 225 pounds.

» Track and field: Moves the time for running events up an hour.

» Basketball: Places the BIIF into the rotation for Division II state tournaments.